Carlimits with Andy Walsh
Discussion
In early December I attended a CarLimits day with some work colleagues and by all accounts in was a hoot. I'm hoping to get some footage up on youtube shortly, but the guy that took the film is still on holiday. Well, I have to say the day was invaluable but it was much harder than I expected. The main focus of the day is the high speed bend which is a relatively narrow access road on the airfield that leads onto a large concrete patch. The idea is to drive down this road at anything up to around 75mph and negotiate a very tight left hand turn. There is an imaginary wall that is infact the runway drain covers, and the idea is to go as fast as you can while still turning and not hitting the 'wall'. At low speed, its quite simple although it was very interesting when I first span to then redo the corner and go round near perfectly while using only one finger on the wheel - the lesson was that I gripped the wheel too firmly - bad habit no. 1. Then as the speed gets higher it became quite messy, and it wasn't just me in the Cerb - my boss in his 911 Carrera and two friends in a Scooby STI and Lotus Elise were equally hopeless. The snap transition from understeer to oversteer at speed is very rapid and requires skill and practice to master - I, by all accounts, was useless!! It was a very wet day though, but even so I found the car very hard to control. Even using full lock during a slide, 9 times out of 10 it continued to drift and eventually spin off. However, my saving grace was at the end each driver drives his car round a timed course as fast as they can, and well, the Cerb was the fastest car. Bashed the porker by a good 3 secs which was good considering is was still soaking wet. Bottom line is its a very worthwhile day, highly recommended. And for the record, my fastest entry speed without spinning or hitting the wall was 69mph!
Look forward to seeing the vid - I've done the same day in my old Chimaera, and, as you say, it was great and v.worthwhile. That bend is really interesting isn't it? - the little crest on it means if you're gripping the wheel too hard you just snap-oversteer - the one-finger thing is fun, if a little disconcerting 
I was 3-4 secs quicker than my boss in his 993 too, although got spanked by my mate in his S2000. That's still TVR: 2 Porsche: 0
Did you do the handling circles drill - if so, how did the Cerb feel?
I managed about the same speed in my Cerb on an activity day there, in the damp - about 79mph in the Chimaera, in the dry.
I was 3-4 secs quicker than my boss in his 993 too, although got spanked by my mate in his S2000. That's still TVR: 2 Porsche: 0
Did you do the handling circles drill - if so, how did the Cerb feel?
I managed about the same speed in my Cerb on an activity day there, in the damp - about 79mph in the Chimaera, in the dry.
Yes I did the oversteer circle. The throttle on the Cerb is so sensitive that again its very hard finding just the right amount of throttle to recover a spin. I say that, but of course Andy Walsh jumped in and managed just fine, so I guess it was my inexperience!
Edited by longbow on Thursday 10th January 09:52
longbow said:
Without a doubt the high speed bend. But bear in mind it isn't power oversteer - its understeer into snap oversteer at speed, i.e. a very likely situation to get into on the road.
Thats what I was hoping for. I'm doing the course for 2 reasons - firstly I want to do a few track days later this year and want some pointers, but more importantly I want to learn what to do if I get it wrong on the road - after all none of us on here drive steady all the time, we all have moments of pushing it on the public road shaped private race tracks and I wan to know not only what to do when it goes wrong but also how the car feels just before it bites. Thumbs up from me too. I did the course a few years ago in my Chimaera 400. Looking to do another as a refresher in the next few months.
As well as the high speed corner, I found the high speed braking really useful. Was also great fun being 12 seconds faster than the Elise there, though when we passengered in each other's cars, it was clear the Elise is a lot more balanced and easier to control than my Chimaera.
Well worth doing the carlimits day
As well as the high speed corner, I found the high speed braking really useful. Was also great fun being 12 seconds faster than the Elise there, though when we passengered in each other's cars, it was clear the Elise is a lot more balanced and easier to control than my Chimaera.
Well worth doing the carlimits day
I've also done the course in a Cerbera, but it was on stock suspension. Most amusing moment was when Andy demonstrated the going in circles bit in 1st gear saying 'now as we go faster the circle will get bigger' but all that happened was the back came round! Ended up having to do it in second...
Andy is a very talented guy. When he was showing me how to do the high speed turn, he spun the car. He tried again, but the same thing happened. He then said he thought one of the rear tyres was the wrong pressure. Sure enough, one was out by 4psi.
We tried the corner again and the car behaved perfectly. I'm still amazed that he could feel the difference in pressure. It felt fine to me!!
We tried the corner again and the car behaved perfectly. I'm still amazed that he could feel the difference in pressure. It felt fine to me!!
jsr said:
Andy is a very talented guy.
Agreed. When you do the 'stopping before the line' test he gets into your car and does it first time out. When I tried it I never got it quite right, and I'd been driving the car for 2 years!It was raining in the morning when I was there, and the sight of him coming around the high speed bend sideways in one participant's M3 CSL with the wipers going and that fantastic induction howl was
I'm thinking of going again with the Z4MC, maybe book my daughter in for the under 17s driving tuition on the same day.
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